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The opportunity was certainly there, like it has been so often, and then it was gone, another setback in a season that has begun to slip away from the Butler basketball team over the past few weeks.

The Bulldogs lost this one not in the closing minutes or in overtime - as is their custom this season - but in a pivotal second-half stretch that found them in a hole from which they couldn't quite climb out of Tuesday night.

The result was a 65-56 loss to Providence, the sixth defeat for Butler in seven Big East games. ...